Place a single fire ant in water and it will probably die. Pour thousands of fire ants into water and they form a water repellent floating raft that will allow them to survive for days.

Biologists have been puzzled by this phenomenon for decades until now. A team of researchers at Georgia Tech has established how fire ants bind together to create the watertight raft.

The researchers found that fire ants link their bodies together, a process similar, they say, to weaving a waterproof fabric. The ants grip each other with their mandibles, claws and the adhesive pads on their feet at a force 400 times their body weight.

The result, the researchers say, is an elastic material that is almost like a fluid composed of ants. The ants spread out from a sphere into a pancake-shaped raft that is waterproof even when submerged.

The scientists say one of the most remarkable features of the ant raft is that it can be assembled in less than two minutes.

The research could have application to logistics and operations research and material sciences, specifically the construction of man-made flotation devices

Machine-learning algorithms are cleverly downloading faces from social media pages like Facebook… and then uploading those faces to unsavory videos. This is the latest example of technology moving faster than our moral ability to use it.

One mystery trader just rolled over a massive volatility bet that could pay out $260 million if he’s right again. Can you blame him? He’s got seven-plus years of the bull trend on his side. Well, none of that means squat if you’re Goldman Sachs.